Understanding Immune System Disorders

Many immune system disorders that were less common
in the past century have been on the rise over the course of the past 20-40
years. These immune system disorders include asthma, autism, HIV, AIDS, and
many different types of autoimmune conditions. Some immune system disorders
lead to a debilitated immune response that is unable to fight off many types of
common illnesses caused by viruses and bacteria. Others lead to an overactive
immune response that causes white blood cells to attack naturally-occurring
cells and tissues. Scientists are not sure why there has been such a
substantial increase in the number of disorders related to the immune system,
but many believe that the rise could be due to increased stress levels,
environmental factors, or increased reliance on pharmaceutical drugs.

None of these theories have been proven. In the
meantime, there are millions of people being diagnosed with these types of
conditions in industrialized nations around the world with few effective
treatment options and no known cures. To understand immune system disorders, it
is important to first understand how the
immune system works. The human immune system is made up of two parts. Its job
is to fight off invaders such as bacteria and viruses. It is what prevents us
from getting sick, and what helps us to get better when we are sick.

The first part of the immune system is called B
lymphocytes. These cells contain antibodies that will attack and remove any
foreign substances. The other part is called T lymphocytes. These are the white
blood cells that will attack any foreign substances directly. The T lymphocytes
are the most important part of the immune system, and are valuable in
preventing against illness. The T lymphocytes remember every threat you come into
contact with and catalog it so that in the future, they can provide further
protection from invasion. Vaccinations consist of a small amount of a
particular virus or bacteria so that they can teach our T lymphocytes what to
fight against.

Autoimmune diseases occur when these cells begin
attacking tissues and organs that are not a real threat to the body. This
happens because the immune system no longer recognizes its own cells. The
immune system then starts to make antibodies to fight against its own tissues,
cells and organs. Autoimmune disease can be either systemic or localized.
Systemic means that it affects several organs of the body. Localized means that
only one organ is affected. For example, psoriasis is a localized autoimmune
disease because it only affects the skin. However, lupus is a systemic
autoimmune disease because it affects several organs of the body.

Type I diabetes is also considered an autoimmune
disease, and so is asthma. Asthma primarily affects the lungs, and the cause of
symptoms is increased inflammation in the airways. However, people with some
autoimmune diseases, like asthma, may also have decreased ability to fight off
other types of infections. This can be confusing, and for many years, asthma
was actually believed to be the result of immune deficiency. AIDS stands for
auto immune deficiency syndrome, but the disease itself is not an autoimmune
condition. In fact, in both HIV and AIDS, there is an immune deficiency. These
types of conditions are considered to be the opposite of autoimmune diseases.
While in autoimmune conditions, the immune system is overactive, in immune
deficiency conditions, the immune system is not effective enough an fails to
protect against even the most common invaders.

Treating Rheumatoid ArthritisRheumatoid arthritis is also commonly referred to as rheumatoid disease. It is an autoimmune disease that is on the rise in the United States and other industrialized nations, but its exact cause is now known....

Treating Colds NaturallyAlternative treatments are very poplar today and some people even feel that they are safer than both prescription and over-the-counter medicine. Recent research regarding popular over-the-counter cold and...

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)

Google AdSense Host API

This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Facebook Login

You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Maven

This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)

We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.

Conversion Tracking Pixels

We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.

Statistics

Author Google Analytics

This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)

Comscore

ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)

Amazon Tracking Pixel

Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)